What mb will allow this to sli?

[chedderslam1976]

found this in another thread:

ASUS ENGTX570 DCII/2DIS/1280MD5 GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

my question is, if I want to run two in sli, what mother board will allow it? This card will be carried over to a new build, probably 2500k and new memory upgrade to this current system:

motherboard - Asus M4A78-E
Ram - GSkill PC2 8500 - Model #: F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK
CPU - AMD Phenom 2 x4 940
Video- ATI Radeon 4870 x 2
Power Supply - Silencer PC Power and Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V

1. can the current MB run this card?
2. Can the current PSU handle two of these down the road?
3. What is a good MB that will allow two of these for the upgrade? I am just concerned that I am locking into a really expensive triple sli board just to get spacing...

 

[ringzero]

1. Yes, your current motherboard can SLI two 570s no problem with PCI-E at 8x, which is just fine.

2. I *think* it could, but 750 is pushing it (for SLI) and PC Power & Cooling is not considered a premium brand, as far as I know, so you might not be getting the full wattage. I'd upgrade if I were you. Antec or Seasonic. Or Corsair. With a single card you'd only need 550+W.

3. I'd try one of these motherboards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128532

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157282

Both are Intel to support your future i5-2500k. You're paying a premium for 3 PCI-E slots that are at least 8x. You might want to find out first for sure if you'd NEED the extra slot for spacing/cooling. I don't know.

 

[chedderslam1976]

i've always thought pc p&c was a tier 1 psu brand...

 

[ringzero]

i've always thought pc p&c was a tier 1 psu brand...

It's gotten great reviews on Newegg, so it might very well be. I'm just not familiar with it. But if you want a power supply for SLI, you'll want 850W, I think.

 

[inzone]

1. Yes, your current motherboard can SLI two 570s no problem with PCI-E at 8x, which is just fine.

2. I *think* it could, but 750 is pushing it (for SLI) and PC Power & Cooling is not considered a premium brand, as far as I know, so you might not be getting the full wattage. I'd upgrade if I were you. Antec or Seasonic. Or Corsair. With a single card you'd only need 550+W.

3. I'd try one of these motherboards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128532

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157282

Both are Intel to support your future i5-2500k. You're paying a premium for 3 PCI-E slots that are at least 8x. You might want to find out first for sure if you'd NEED the extra slot for spacing/cooling. I don't know.

Do you realize you are recomending motherboards with the 2011 socket , and Sandy Bridge 2500k is 1155 socket???

 

[ringzero]

Do you realize you are recomending motherboards with the 2011 socket , and Sandy Bridge 2500k is 1155 socket???

Ugh, thanks for catching that inzone. Totally stupid of me.

Can you recommend a good motherboard for him? He wants more than two PCI-E slots for spacing/cooling, but I don't know if that's necessary or if he would be forced to use a 4x slot to have that spacing. Most of the 1155 boards I'm looking at have x16, x8, and x4.

 

[inzone]

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$124.99 and a $10 rebate that makes it $114.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

This motherboard will support the i5-2500k and has the two slots for SLI. Your current MB will support the two cards in SLI and while you can try the psu that you have just be aware that you may need more , like a 850w. Use this limk to see for yourself;

http://images10.newegg.com/BizIntell/tool/psucalc/index.html

 

[17seconds]

Your current motherboard does NOT support SLI:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM2Plus/M4A78E_SE/#specifications

The other issue is that the Asus DirectCU cards have a triple slot cooling, so you need plenty of space between PCIe slots to accommodate two.

 

[ringzero]

Your current motherboard does NOT support SLI:
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM2Plus/M4A78E_SE/#specifications

The other issue is that the Asus DirectCU cards have a triple slot cooling, so you need plenty of space between PCIe slots to accommodate two.

Hey Matto, good to know. Just out of curiosity, why wouldn't it support SLI? I realize it only says Crossfire support, but what would prevent two nVidia cards from working?

 

[17seconds]

Hey Matto, good to know. Just out of curiosity, why wouldn't it support SLI? I realize it only says Crossfire support, but what would prevent two nVidia cards from working?

Any motherboard with two PCIe slots will support Crossfire. Only those boards specifically "SLI Certified" will support SLI. It has to specifically say that it supports SLI.

 

[ringzero]

Any motherboard with two PCIe slots will support Crossfire. Only those boards specifically "SLI Certified" will support SLI. It has to specifically say that it supports SLI.

Excellent, thanks for the heads up.

I really f'd this guy up with my advice. Apologies to the poster.